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Sri Lanka Armed Forces

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Have you discussed this on a talk page?

Yes, I have discussed this issue on a talk page already.

Location of dispute

Users involved

Dispute overview

On the Sri Lanka Armed Forces page, Cossde claims through his edits that the UN report supports the following sentence which he has added, which states "with the LTTE preventing the civilian from leaving as they used them as human shields and attempted to create an humanitarian crises."

The UN report on Sri Lanka says nothing of the sort, and he has been apprised of this multiple times: [18], [19], [20]

Despite this he has repeatedly reinserted this sentence not supported by the citations into the article.

The UN report which is cited in the news articles after Cossde's OR sentence explicitly states this on p.65, and actually contradicts Cossde's claim:

"the Panel believes that these actions did not, in law, amount to the use of human shields insofar as it did not find credible evidence of the LTTE deliberately moving civilians towards military targets to protect the latter from attacks as is required by the customary definition of that war crime (Rule 97, ICRC Study))."[1]

There is also no mention from any of the reliable sources cited that the "LTTE attempted to create an humanitarian crises" as he claims. It has failed WP:BURDEN yet he persists.

How have you tried to resolve this dispute before coming here?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Sri_Lanka_Armed_Forces#Disruptive_revert/edit_war_by_user_Cossde

How do you think we can help resolve the dispute?

By checking that the added sentence is supported by the existing citations or not, and to decide whether to keep it in the article.

Summary of dispute by Cossde

Please keep it brief - less than 2000 characters if possible, it helps us help you quicker.

Oz346 is correct in quoting of the UN report, however as ususal Oz346 has cherrypicked points, avoiding broader context. Said qoute comes from the chaperter titled "Legal Evaluation of Allegations" which states that "current evaluation is limited to the legal characterization of the allegations; the Panel's view that a certain allegation would not violate internaitonal law should in no way be interpreted as an endorsement of the underlying activity." The UN report then goes to state that "The Panel's determination of credible allegations against the LTTE associated with the final stages of the war reveal six core categories of potential serious violations: (i) using civilains as a hunman buffer (ii) killing civilians attempting to flee LTTE control; (iii) using military equipment in the proximity of civilians; (iv) forced recruitment of children (v) forced labour; and (vi) killing of civilians through suicide attacks.". At one point the report states "Civilians were increasingly sacrificed as dispensable "cannon fodder" while the LTTE fought to protect its senior leadership.". It also mentions that "the role of the Tamil diaspora, which provided vital moral and material support to the LTTE over decades, and some of whom refuse to acknowledge the LTTE's role in the humanitarian disaster in the Vanni, creating a further obstacle to accuntability and sustainable peace". Frances Harrison in his book Still Counting the Dead: Survivors of Sri Lanka’s Hidden War does mention that credible evidence that the LTTE itself wanted to deliberately create a humanitarian disaster. Cossde (talk) 13:28, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

1. Human buffers is not the same as human shields, as the UN report explicitly mentions. None of the sources cited after your sentence makes the claim of human shields, so it is original research.
2. Likewise, the phrase you added claiming the "LTTE attempted to create a humanitarian crisis" is more original research not supported by the references cited. Having a role in the humanitarian disaster is not the same as "attempting to create one". Oz346 (talk) 15:43, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

Summary of dispute by UtoD

Please keep it brief - less than 2000 characters if possible, it helps us help you quicker.

My main opposition was the WP:UNDUE addition of an incident of sexual abuse by peacekeepers from 2004. It is extremely undue and would be indiscriminatory to add random instances of historical abuse to every SL armed forces page. I agree with Cossde's assessment assessment of the other issue on the UN report but I am willing to allow changes if the WP:UNDUE addition on the peacekeeper incident is removed. -UtoD 14:32, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

Summary of dispute by Petextrodon

The dispute is over the following sentence that user Cossde added and user UtoD re-added: "with the LTTE preventing the civilian from leaving as they used them as human shields and attempted to create an humanitarian crises"

Evidently neither user has bothered to read the cited source properly since the UN report explicitly contradicts the claim on the use of human shields as explained to them multiple times by myself and user Oz346. Furthermore, by placing that sentence right after "with most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war being blamed on Sri Lankan Army shelling", an impression is created that most civilian casualties were caused by the LTTE's use of "human shields" although the cited source does not state this. --- Petextrodon (talk) 22:02, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

Sri Lanka Armed Forces discussion

Please keep discussion to a minimum before being opened by a volunteer. Continue on article talk page if necessary.

References

First Statement by Moderator (Sri Lankan Armed Forces)

I am ready to begin moderation of this dispute. Please read DRN Rule A and agree to abide by its rules. Do not edit the article while discussion is in progress. Be civil and concise. Comment on content, not contributors.

It appears that one of the issues is an edit that has been made and reverted concerning allegations of the use of human shields during the Sri Lankan Civil War and also concerning sexual abuse by peacekeeping forces. Is that the only content issue? If there are other content issues, please state what they are. Also, will each editor please state concisely why they think that the contested and reverted edit either should be restored or should not be restored? Robert McClenon (talk) 06:43, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

First Statements by Editors (Sri Lankan Armed Forces)

First statement by Oz346

(1) The following sentence is not supported by the citations: "with the LTTE preventing the civilian from leaving as they used them as human shields and attempted to create an humanitarian crises."

The UN report which is cited in the news articles after this sentence explicitly states this on p.65, and actually contradicts this claim:

"the Panel believes that these actions did not, in law, amount to the use of human shields insofar as it did not find credible evidence of the LTTE deliberately moving civilians towards military targets to protect the latter from attacks as is required by the customary definition of that war crime (Rule 97, ICRC Study))."[1]

There is also no mention from any of the reliable sources cited that the "LTTE attempted to create an humanitarian crises". I believe that this original research should be removed, as it is not supported by the citations and has failed WP:BURDEN.

(2) Regarding the sexual abuse by the peacekeepers, I see no valid reason why it should be removed from the section on peacekeepers. It is reliably sourced and not excessively long, and therefore neither fails WP:BURDEN, nor is it of undue weight. Oz346 (talk) 12:00, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

First statement by Cossde

First Issue: As I explaned before, the UN report clearly states that "The Panel's determination of credible allegations against the LTTE associated with the final stages of the war reveal six core categories of potential serious violations: (i) using civilains as a hunman buffer (ii) killing civilians attempting to flee LTTE control; (iii) using military equipment in the proximity of civilians; (iv) forced recruitment of children (v) forced labour; and (vi) killing of civilians through suicide attacks." Which represents the sentence in question. Similar counter accusations have been writen of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in the LTTE article. Hence it is due balance to either keep this sentance in the Sri Lankan Armed Forces page or remove it and the accusations against the Sri Lankan Armed Forces LTTE article to achive balance. This has been prevented by Oz346 [21].

Second Issue: Regarding the sentence on the Sri Lankan peacekeepering scandle, the same content has been included in the Sri Lanka Army page. This is creating WP:UNDU having the same content repeated in two pages. Similar scandles reported in other armed forces such as the French Armed Forces have not been included.

Cossde (talk) 12:12, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

First statement by UtoD

1. Agreed with Cossde. If the issue is that the section is too much about LTTE then it should be allowed to be added to the LTTE page.

2. The Peacekeeper section is clearly WP:UNDUE, it is already mentioned in the Sri Lanka Army page, where it is still undue but less than in the Armed Forces page. There is no reason to add it to the Armed Forces page again, the page is not an indiscriminate list of historical individual instances of abuse and its inclusion in any way gives too much weight to it, making it a WP:POVPUSH. -UtoD 16:05, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

First statement by Petextrodon

Yes, those are the two disputed issues.

First issue concerns the following sentence which I think should be removed: "with the LTTE preventing the civilian from leaving as they used them as human shields and attempted to create an humanitarian crises."

It should be removed because: 1) it's not supported by the citation which in fact contradicts it as the quote cited by user Oz346 shows; 2) it's excessive given the LTTE's responsibility for war crimes, which isn't even the focus of the subsection, is already mentioned.

Second issue concerns the following sentence which I think should be re-added: "Sri Lankan peacekeepers have been embroiled in a child sex ring scandal in Haiti, with at least 134 soldiers being accused of sexually abusing nine children from 2004 to 2007."

Users Cossde and UtoD state that this sentence is WP:POVFORK, WP:INDISCRIMINATE and WP:UNDUE. I still am not sure what they mean by the first accusation. I don't see how the existence of one sentence about a topic that has a separate article goes against Wiki policy. As for the last two, I don't think they apply since the issue of sexual abuse by Sri Lankan peacekeepers in Haiti is directly relevant to that section "Deployments in peacekeeping missions" and the case is notable enough as it was a major international scandal spanning three years involving 134 Sri Lankan soldiers. More details dealing with the general history and missions of the peacekeeping force can be added so that the sentence about the scandal becomes less prominent. In any case, a single sentence about a major and very relevant scandal is not undue weight. --- Petextrodon (talk) 10:36, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Second statement by moderator (Sri Lankan Armed Forces)

The two issues are the contested statement about the use of human buffers toward the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War, and the reporting of the alleged sexual abuse of the peacekeeping forces. I would like each editor to make brief statements (a) about the reason why the statement about human buffers should or should not be removed; (b) about why the reporting of the alleged sexual abuse should or should not be included; (c) anything else that should be changed in the article.Robert McClenon (talk) 05:09, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

Second statements by editors (Sri Lankan Armed Forces)

Second statement by Oz346

1. The contested statement is about the use of human shields, not human buffers. The UN report differentiates between the two, and rejects the definition of human shields. They are not the same thing, legally they are defined differently.

I repeat from the UN report:

"the Panel believes that these actions did not, in law, amount to the use of human shields insofar as it did not find credible evidence of the LTTE deliberately moving civilians towards military targets to protect the latter from attacks as is required by the customary definition of that war crime (Rule 97, ICRC Study))."[2]

The statement about human shields should not be included because it is not supported by the citations, and is OR.

2. Regarding the sexual abuse by the peacekeepers, I see no valid reason why it should be removed from the section on peacekeepers. It is notable enough to be mentioned by multiple reliable sources and is not excessively long. It therefore neither fails WP:BURDEN, nor is of undue weight. Oz346 (talk) 09:18, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

Second statement by Cossde

The UN report clearly states that it finds "credible allegations" against the LTTE for using civilains as a "hunman buffer", "killing civilians attempting to flee LTTE control" and "using military equipment in the proximity of civilians".

Regarding the peacekeepering scandle, repeating the same senetances in the Sri Lanka Army page and in the Sri Lanka Armed Forces page is a clearly WP:UNDU and as I said before similar peacekeepering scandles (and sadly there are many) in other armed forces such as the French, doesnt appear in these pages. In the example of drug trafficking in the Haitian Armed Forces seems to be a very poor example, since it meets no WP standards, let along having proper citations. Furthermore, the Haitian Army doesnt have a page of its own and is redirected to the Haitian Armed Forces page itself. The primary issue here is that the same content is repeated in two pages Sri Lanka Army and the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. Cossde (talk) 13:50, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

Second statement by UtoD

1. There are multiple sources that explicitly claim Human Shields for example 1 2 pages 15, 38.

2. The peacekeeper claim is already present in the Sri Lanka Army page and even there it is WP:UNDUE and adding it to the Armed Forces page, which is not about individual historical incidents is extremely WP:UNDUE. It should not be added and preferably removed from the SL Army page as well and should be limited to the pages of the specific unit/mission. Because it is giving a single historical incident extreme undue weight. The pages are not for every single individual incident that a military unit got involved in during a military's existence. And when it is repeated indiscriminately upwards through articles by WP:CFORKING then it becomes a WP:ADVOCACY issue. -UtoD 19:28, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

Second statement by Petextrodon

1) The issue is about "human shields", not "human buffer". Once again, the UN report explicitly denies that "human shields" as defined under international law were used. This is original research on the part of user Cossde. Cossde continues, stating the LTTE "attempted to create an humanitarian crises," which is again original research since the UN report only refers to "the LTTE's role in the humanitarian disaster", not that it attempted to create one. Finally, it's undue weight in a section dealing with the war crimes of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and not those of the LTTE (which is extensively documented in its own page), especially given that LTTE is also already named in the paragraph as a culpable party.

2) Child sexual abuse in Haiti by Sri Lankan peacekeepers should be included since it was a major international scandal and one small sentence is not undue weight nor excessive. The Armed Forces of Haiti page itself has an entire paragraph on drug trafficking by its military officers. --- Petextrodon (talk) 11:43, 14 March 2024 (UTC)


Third statement by moderator (Sri Lankan Armed Forces)

The two issues are the contested statement about the use of human shields toward the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War, and the reporting of the alleged sexual abuse by the peacekeeping forces. I am now asking each editor who wants any change made to the article with regard to either issue to specify exactly what they want changed in the article. Also please identify any possible compromise language. If there is no compromise, we will compose and publish a two-part RFC. Robert McClenon (talk) 20:19, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

Third statements by editors (Sri Lankan Armed Forces)

Third statement by Oz346

1. I'm ok with the following reworded compromise for war crimes: "with most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war being blamed on indiscriminate Sri Lankan Army shelling and the LTTE being blamed for using civilians as a human buffer."

Anything else gives undue weight to the LTTE crimes when the section is about the crimes of the government forces, which are also much more detailed in the UN report, which the existing section does not elaborate on (e.g. extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearances etc). The LTTE page already has a huge section with multiple subsections on its human rights violations, in contrast to this paltry one paragraph tucked away at the end of this section in the Sri Lankan Armed Forces article. The current Sri Lankan Armed Forces article virtually censors its more extensive war crimes due to frequent removal of mentions of human rights violations by nationalist editors. There is a definite double standard here for both parties in the conflict.

2. I'm ok with the following reworded compromise for Haiti sex scandal: "Sri Lankan peacekeepers have been accused of sexually abusing children in Haiti from 2004 to 2007."

I don't agree that similar sentence should be removed from the Sri Lanka Army page. There's no wikipedia policy which states a topic can't be summarised in one sentence in multiple articles. Oz346 (talk) 12:01, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

Third statement by UtoD

I will agree that "the LTTE been accused of using civilians as a human buffer and shooting civilians attempting to escape the conflict zone, significantly adding to the death toll in the final stages of the war" if the peacekeeper section is not added.

While Cossde's proposal to remove the peacekeeper issue section from the Sri Lanka Army page if it is added to Armed Forces page solves the WP:CFORK issue, the addition would not match with that of the Armed Forces page per WP:RELEVANCE and WP:SCOPE. It is of much greater relevance to the Army page than the Armed Forces page and it would be WP:UNDUE to add it to the Armed Forces page. I agree with Cossde on the WP:CANVASSING issue. WP:CANVASSING should be entirely banned if an rfc is opened and should be targeted towards neutral editors unrelated editors. -UtoD 05:08, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

Third statement by Petextrodon

1) I want the following OR line removed: "with the LTTE preventing the civilian from leaving as they used them as human shields and attempted to create an humanitarian crises."

Please bear in mind that this part is supposed to be a summary of the UN report and not other sources not cited there which may use "human shields" in a non-technical way.

2) I want the following sentence re-added to the "Deployments in peacekeeping missions" section: "Sri Lankan peacekeepers have been embroiled in a child sex ring scandal in Haiti, with at least 134 soldiers being accused of sexually abusing nine children from 2004 to 2007." --- Petextrodon (talk) 02:32, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

Since I made the statement above, users Cossde and Oz346 have suggested compromises. Although it's not what I had initially proposed, I find Oz346's proposal agreeable. --- Petextrodon (talk) 12:30, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

Third statement by Cossde

1) I am ok to the idea of rewording the sentence to "with the LTTE been accused of using civilians as a human buffer and shooting civilians attempting to escape the conflict zone, significantly adding to the death toll in the final stages of the war". This will match the UN reports wording as close as possible.

2) I am ok with a sentence be added to the "Deployments in peacekeeping missions" section: "Sri Lankan peacekeepers in Haiti were accused of sexual misconduct and abuse involving minors in November 2007" provided that the similar sentence in the Sri Lanka Army page is removed.

If you do proceed to RFC, I hope that it could be limited to Admins or an independent review since in the past it was common for RFCs on Sri Lankan Civil War topics to be heavily commented on parties who tend to be either pro-Sri Lankan or anti-Sri Lankan, when it becomes a simple voting contest. Cossde (talk) 08:48, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

I honstly tried to compromise, but I cannot agree to both Oz346's statements. I am sorry, but I find Oz346's arguments contradicting each other. Oz346 is overly concerned about giving the slightest undue weight to the LTTE crimes in his lengthy argument, however Oz346 also finds no Wiki policy that prevents repeating the Peacekeeping scandal in both SLAF and SLA pages. Cossde (talk) 13:58, 16 March 2024 (UTC)


Fourth statement by moderator (Sri Lankan Armed Forces)

The two issues are the contested statement about the use of human shields toward the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War, and the reporting of the alleged sexual abuse by the peacekeeping forces. I have a two-part task for each editor. First, propose language that you find acceptable, and that you think will be acceptable to the Wikipedia community, for each section. Second, in the sections for discussion, engage in back-and-forth discussion with the other editors to try to reach a compromise. These are the only sections in which back-and-forth discussion is permitted. Back-and-forth discussion will continue until either a compromise is reached, or the moderator thinks that the discussion is stalled. Robert McClenon (talk) 20:23, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

Fourth statements by editors (Sri Lankan Armed Forces)

Fourth statement by Oz346

The language that I find acceptable: "with most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war being blamed on indiscriminate Sri Lankan Army shelling and the LTTE being blamed for using civilians as a human buffer." Oz346 (talk) 02:13, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Fourth statement by Cossde

The language that I find acceptable: "with the LTTE been accused of significantly adding to the death toll in the final stages of the war, by using civilians as a human buffer and shooting civilians attempting to escape the conflict zone." Cossde (talk) 01:22, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Fourth statement by UtoD

Fourth statement by Petextrodon

I agree with user Oz346's proposal: "with most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war being blamed on indiscriminate Sri Lankan Army shelling and the LTTE being blamed for using civilians as a human buffer." --- Petextrodon (talk) 04:40, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Discussion of wording on human shields

Back-and-forth discussion was not useful. Robert McClenon (talk) 16:28, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

I propose the inclusion of the wording "with the LTTE been accused of significantly adding to the death toll in the final stages of the war, by using civilians as a human buffer and shooting civilians attempting to escape the conflict zone." It is exactly what the UN Report has stated in its Executive Summery. This will also then be similar to what is in LTTE page. Hence I feel that this will be WP:BALANCED.Cossde (talk) 01:22, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

To be similar to the LTTE page, we will need a large dedicated section on the human rights violations committed by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces on its page (similar to the human rights violations section on the LTTE page). As they were both parties to the conflict and you want to be WP:BALANCED, I am sure you will agree. Oz346 (talk) 02:03, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Wait is this discussion on the war crimes allegations at the final stages of the war and the UN report or is it a broader discussion (i.e. human rights violations)? I am confused! Was it opened up? Did I miss something? Cossde (talk) 03:24, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
So you don't agree that a large 'human right violations' section should be on the Sri Lankan Armed forces page (as demonstrated by your frequent removal of this type of content), but you are happy that a large 'human rights violations' section is present on the LTTE page (the other party to the conflict)? That's not WP:BALANCED. If you are arguing for balance then there should be no double standards. Oz346 (talk) 14:13, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Oz346, are you proposing expanding this discussion beyond the scope of "Discussion of wording on human shields"? Cossde (talk) 14:25, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Cossde, that's an excessive focus on LTTE when the section deals with the allegations against the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.
Compare the length of sentence dedicated to each side.
SLAF: "most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war being blamed on indiscriminate Sri Lankan Army shelling"
LTTE: "the LTTE been accused of significantly adding to the death toll in the final stages of the war, by using civilians as a human buffer and shooting civilians attempting to escape the conflict zone"
This is not proportionate, is it?
It may be what the UN report states but the same report also details far more war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces which you want to conveniently leave out. Unless you also suggest expanding on the human rights violations by the SLAF, Oz346's proposal is more reasonable. --- Petextrodon (talk) 04:55, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Are you and Oz346 is asking for expand the scope of this discussion to beyond topic of war crimes in the final stages? Cossde (talk) 06:04, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde As for me, not necessarily. I'm only talking about the same UN report as you are, which deals with the war crimes and crimes against humanity in the final stages of the war. --- Petextrodon (talk) 11:11, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Petextrodon, then lets keep "with most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war being blamed on Sri Lankan Army shelling, with the LTTE been accused of significantly adding to the death toll in the final stages of the war, by using civilians as a human buffer and shooting civilians attempting to escape the conflict zone." Cossde (talk) 12:08, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde Why do you want to give more weight to accusations against LTTE in a section specifically dealing with war crimes of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces? --- Petextrodon (talk) 12:34, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
I don't the UN report does. Cossde (talk) 13:10, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
The UN report does NOT give more weight to accusations against the LTTE. There are actually more charges made against the Sri Lankan government: War_crimes_during_the_final_stages_of_the_Sri_Lankan_Civil_War#UN_Secretary_-_General's_advisory_panel. So your current proposal sentence does not reflect the weighting of the overall UN report, but gives disproportionate focus on the LTTE, and that too on a section that should be focusing primarily on the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.Oz346 (talk) 14:21, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
You seem to be want equal, in your words "length of sentence dedicated to each side" that sounds like a WP:FALSEBALANCE. That is very serious! Cossde (talk) 14:28, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
You have incorrectly cited WP:FALSEBALANCE which refers primarily to fringe views. A section on the Sri Lankan Armed Forces should primarily be about the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. Oz346 (talk) 14:40, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde But you're the one who wants to add content from it so you have the burden to justify their inclusion. A reminder that WP:NOTEVERYTHING states the following:
"Information should not be included in this encyclopedia solely because it is true or useful. A Wikipedia article should not be a complete exposition of all possible details, but a summary of accepted knowledge regarding its subject. Verifiable and sourced statements should be treated with appropriate weight."
Hence, Wikipedia is not UN report.--- Petextrodon (talk) 13:25, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Agreed. Per WP:NOTEVERYTHING lets remove the whole para on war crimes. Cossde (talk) 13:33, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde Would you suggest the same for the LTTE article? --- Petextrodon (talk) 13:43, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Petextrodon, did we switch articles? Why do you ask that? Cossde (talk) 13:48, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde Did we switch articles when you proposed to delete mention of Haiti sex scandal from Sri Lankan Army article? --- Petextrodon (talk) 13:51, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Not in this discussion. You seems to be going back to the LTTE page all the time. Why might that be? Cossde (talk) 14:18, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Do note that your above justification to remove the whole war crimes section will be brought up the next time you engage in a dispute on the LTTE page. Also, you did bring up the Sri Lankan Army page multiple times although the discussion is about the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. --- Petextrodon (talk) 14:27, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Petextrodon, is that a threat? Cossde (talk) 14:30, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde I don't know how that could be construed as a "threat". For the purpose of transparency, other editors and admins will be interested in reviewing how you interpret and use Wiki guidelines. --- Petextrodon (talk) 14:41, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Petextrodon, when you said "Do note that your above justification to remove the whole war crimes section will be brought up the next time you engage in a dispute on the LTTE page." I see it as a threat to take future action against me, as I see it delivered with the intention to intimidate me, specially due to your past personal attacks on me in DRN and [22], I will not engage in a non-WP:CIVIL discussion. Cossde (talk) 14:52, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde I'm sorry that you feel that way. In fact, I feel personally attacked by these baseless accusations of "threat" and "intention to intimidate me". Despite these insults, I am willing to put them aside for the sake of the discussion about the topic at hand. --- Petextrodon (talk) 15:23, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
The LTTE and the Sri Lankan Armed Forces were the two parties to the conflict, and you are specifically adding disproportionately more details about the LTTE on a section that should primarily be about the Sri Lankan Armed Forces (its a section on the 'Sri Lankan Armed Forces' page). So there is obvious relevance. Oz346 (talk) 14:27, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Discussion of wording on peacekeeping scandal

Back-and-forth discussion was not useful. Robert McClenon (talk) 16:28, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

The alleged sexual abuse by the peacekeeping forces, I feel that it can be completely done away with in this article since the subsection on peacekeeping only contains a table of troop numbers, to add to that a sentence on the sexual abuse scandal will only make it WP:UNDU and it has already been mentioned in the Sri Lanka Army page, repeating it here will be WP:UNDU. Cossde (talk) 01:22, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Cossde, I disagree. That subsection did have a background detail before you removed it. More details on the general history can be added as I explained above. Please point to the Wiki policy which states coverage of a topic in one sentence in multiple articles is undue weight and is therefore forbidden. --- Petextrodon (talk) 04:59, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Petextrodon, you are asking for Wiki policy that states repeating the same sentence in multiple articles is undue weight, and yet in the above section you are asking that the length of sentence dedicated to each side, should be proportionate. Cossde (talk) 06:03, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde, they are two separate issues. Once again, since I could be missing something, please kindly point to the Wiki policy which states coverage of a topic in one sentence in multiple articles is undue weight and is therefore forbidden. --- Petextrodon (talk) 11:08, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Why is it different? Cossde (talk) 12:07, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde Major scandal involving Sri Lankan Army is directly relevant to articles or sections about the Sri Lankan Army, whereas LTTE crimes are not relevant to a section specifically dealing with war crimes of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.
Now, could you please kindly point to the Wiki policy which states coverage of a topic in one sentence in multiple relevant articles is undue weight and is therefore forbidden? --- Petextrodon (talk) 12:45, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Petextrodon thank you very much, you answered the question yourself when you, just said "Major scandal involving Sri Lankan Army is directly relevant to articles or sections about the Sri Lankan Army". There you have it. There is no reason to repeat the same in the Sri Lankan Armed Forces! Cossde (talk) 13:10, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde I disagree. "There is no reason" is your personal opinion. Can you now answer my question please? --- Petextrodon (talk) 13:21, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Again you answered that for me, thank you. WP:NOTEVERYTHING and I quote you "Information should not be included in this encyclopedia solely because it is true or useful. A Wikipedia article should not be a complete exposition of all possible details, but a summary of accepted knowledge regarding its subject. Verifiable and sourced statements should be treated with appropriate weight." Cossde (talk) 13:34, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde Are you saying that rule I cited justifies your inclusion of excess details on LTTE war crimes in an unrelated article and section? --- Petextrodon (talk) 13:42, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Petextrodon its you who is saying that its excess details. I don't. Cossde (talk) 13:49, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde So which rule are you citing when you imply that coverage of a topic in one sentence in multiple relevant articles is undue weight and is therefore forbidden? --- Petextrodon (talk) 13:53, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Petextrodon, you tell me. Your are the person who added the excess details on the peacekeeping scandal that triggered all this. Cossde (talk) 14:22, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@Cossde I'm not aware of such rules. You are the one making the claim, so justify it. Otherwise, would I not be reasonable in concluding that you made up a rule? --- Petextrodon (talk) 14:29, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Its an unnecessary WP:CFORK resulting in a WP:SOAPBOX:. It is more relevant to the Sri Lanka Army page and it is more within the WP:SCOPE of the Army page. Guidelines are to achieve the highest quality of articles and indiscriminately repeating the a single incident from 20 years ago on Armed Forces page when it is already mentioned in the Army page is WP:UNDUE. The Armed Forces page is not a indiscriminate list of singular instances of abuse by every single sub-organizations. -14:27, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Cossde did not "made up a rule". WP:NOTEVERYTHING is a thing and so does WP:SCOPE of articles and WP:RELEVANCE all of which are better suited for the Army page where it is already mentioned compared to the Armed Forces pages. Just because a single incident from two decades ago involved a branch of the Armed Forces does not mean it should be listed in the Armed Forces page. - UtoD 14:39, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@UtoD It appears you didn't sign the previous reply. Could you please cite the Wiki rule and the exact wording which states coverage of a topic in one sentence in multiple relevant articles is forbidden on Wikipedia? --- Petextrodon (talk) 14:46, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
I signed it, its a wiki issue. The argument is that because it is not explicitly forbidden, you can indiscriminately add it isn't going to run especially when its covered by multiple guidelines why it won't fly and is not how wiki works. However WP:BALANCE says For example, a description of isolated events, quotes, criticisms, or news reports related to one subject may be verifiable and impartial, but still disproportionate to their overall significance to the article topic. Adding individual singular events on the entire justification of soldiers belonging to the army and Army is a branch of the Armed Forces thus individual events of abuse done by any unit involved must be added to the Armed Forces page is way past the acceptable limits of WP:RELEVANCE. You simply cannot just claim its relevant because its linked and indiscriminately start adding events to pages. - UtoD 15:27, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
@UtoD Are you saying inclusion of one sentence about a major international scandal spanning three years and involving 134 Sri Lankan peacekeepers is "disproportionate" in a section that deals with Sri Lankan peacekeeping missions? But somehow adding a longer sentence about LTTE's war crimes to a section dealing with SLAF's war crimes is proportionate? I don't see your logic. Doesn't what qualify here as disproportionate or proportionate subjective or based on personal whim?--- Petextrodon (talk) 15:46, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Fifth statement by moderator (Sri Lankan Armed Forces)

I had asked each editor for proposed wording on the UN report on war crimes, and for proposed wording on the scandal about the peacekeepers. I have been given wording on the UN report on war crimes. So I am asking each editor to provide the proposed wording on the scandal about sexual abuse by the Sri Lankan peacekeeping forces in Haiti. Robert McClenon (talk) 16:28, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Back-and-forth discussion is not working, and so I am stopping it. Address your comments to the moderator and the community, in particular about proposed wording on the scandal involving the peacekeepers.

Fifth statements by editors (Sri Lankan Armed Forces)

Fifth statement by Oz346

I am now of the opinion, that there is nothing wrong with the original sentence added, which is reliably sourced and well written:

Sri Lankan peacekeepers have been embroiled in a child sex ring scandal in Haiti, with at least 134 soldiers being accused of sexually abusing nine children from 2004 to 2007.[3]

As there is unlikely to be any compromise, I suggest WP:RFC would be the next logical step to this dispute.Oz346 (talk) 16:50, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Fifth statement by Cossde

As I said before, I am ok with the addon "with most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war being blamed on indiscriminate Sri Lankan Army shelling and the LTTE being blamed for using civilians as a human buffer." As for RfC, I request that this be done by admins or independent editors. Cossde (talk) 03:33, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Fifth statement by UtoD

The section on Peacekeepers should not be added due to being WP:UNDUE- UtoD 06:22, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Fifth statement by Petextrodon

I agree that the original sentence should be included:

"Sri Lankan peacekeepers have been embroiled in a child sex ring scandal in Haiti, with at least 134 soldiers being accused of sexually abusing nine children from 2004 to 2007."

--- Petextrodon (talk) 17:07, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Ziyavudin Magomedov

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Closed discussion

trap-neuter-return

  – New discussion.

Have you discussed this on a talk page?

Yes, I have discussed this issue on a talk page already.

Location of dispute

Users involved

Dispute overview

Since 2021, a page that was relatively positive and informational has had a series of edits that introduced negative bias. At this point the page serves mainly to discredit the practice of trap-neuter-return.

How have you tried to resolve this dispute before coming here?

[24]

How do you think we can help resolve the dispute?

Looking for a neutral third party to mediate so this page can function as a neutral information source. Of the two editors involved, one is positive about TNR (myself) and the other is negative. Need to find the neutral middle ground.

Summary of dispute by Geogene

Academic sources have called the subject of this article "cat hoarding without walls" [25] and have suggested it may be enabling mental illness (How is the person who must save 25 to 30 cats in their home different from the person who sees themselves as the savior of 25 to 30 cats in a park? Some “cat people” may be “collectors,” and it is possible that TNR is enabling and supporting some people who need psychologic counseling and assistance.) [26]. To quote another paper, this one by a CDC researcher, Such programs generate support and enthusiasm from many animal welfare advocates, yet these managed feral cat “colonies” are not innocuous. Feral cats can cause considerable mortality to local wildlife (Jessup, 2004, Hawkins et al., 1999, Baker et al., 2008), act as reservoirs for feline-specific diseases (Cohn, 2011, Al- Kappany et al., 2011, Nutter et al., 2004a), and transmit zoonotic diseases to humans (Nutter et al., 2004a, McElroy et al., 2010, CDC, 1995, CDC, 2008b). Additionally, claims by TNR advocates that managed colonies can reduce feral cat populations and control rodents are contradicted by research (Hawkins et al., 1999, Castillo & Clarke, 2003, Longcore et al., 2009, Gunther et al., 2011). [27] And then we have this recent New Yorker piece, [28], which presents the TNR movement as not based on science but driven by an ideology that is unable to compromise. So what basis is there to expect a positive article? Geogene (talk) 21:40, 13 March 2024 (UTC)

trap-neuter-return discussion

Please keep discussion to a minimum before being opened by a volunteer. Continue on article talk page if necessary.

Robert McClenon WP:DRNA violations on your talk page. [29] Item 3.1 and Item 5. Do not talk about contributors, do not talk on the moderator's talk page. Geogene (talk) 23:34, 13 March 2024 (UTC)

And additionally, I would like to point out this well-intentioned joke of yours on your talk page, where you told the opposition, I don't recommend going down that alley. If that alley has rats, any community cats can handle them better than you can [30]. Reliable Sources say that the term "community cats" is misleading, as it's a partisan misnomer used by TNR advocates to normalize cats in the outdoors, and falsely imply that they exist with the consent of the local community, and/or that the community has some kind of responsibility towards them, [31], and/or that it is "a message to the community" that the cats must be accepted if they're wanted there or not [32]. Additionally, cats, whatever you want to call them, are not effective against rats. [33]. I'm a little concerned to see a moderator on NPOV in the TNR article, repeating two different pro-TNR talking points unbidden. Let me just point out also that the internet in general loves cats so much that it doesn't take criticism of them well, and this is presenting issues here on Wikipedia already. Geogene (talk) 02:22, 14 March 2024 (UTC)
Robert McClenon While I can't choose what option they'll take next, I think that, as a new editor with about 30 edits, they would do better learning the WP:NPOV policy than studying up on every possible avenue of dispute resolution. And then, they could consider responding to points I've already made with policy-based argumentation to defend their position. Geogene (talk) 05:16, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

Zeroth statement by possible moderator (TNR)

I don't think that I will be accepting this case for moderated discussion. I am not sure what the next step should be, and so am not yet closing this case. It does not appear that mediation is likely to work, because both editors are approaching mediation with wariness and possible hostility. I see that both editors have established positions that are far apart on the overall outlook toward trap-neuter-return, largely because they are far apart on outlooks on the animals (feral cats) that are the subject of TNR. It appears that there may not be enough trust between the two editors to be able conduct mediation without checking on things and looking at the rules. Robert McClenon (talk) 04:41, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

I have posted on the Teahouse to request another moderator be added to this Dispute Resolution ticket with a short summary and also updated the trap-neuter-return Talk page with the current actions for transparency and record-keeping. Nylnoj (talk) 00:35, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

One possibility would be for the editors to find another moderator. I have no particular advice on how to do that, except that they could request one at the Teahouse or Village Pump (Miscellaneous). (I would be glad to have another moderator to share the case workload with.) However, I am not sure that another moderator will be able to bridge the distrust between these two editors, especially now that they know that their talk page will be watched and their humor taken issue with. Another option is WP:ANI, but that is often problematic.

Mainstreet Research

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.

Have you discussed this on a talk page?

Closed discussion

California High-Speed Rail

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Closed discussion

List of 2023–24 Premiership Rugby transfers

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Closed discussion

Seamus Heaney

  Dispute resolved successfully. See comments for reasoning.
Closed discussion

Morocco

  – General close. See comments for reasoning.
Closed discussion
  1. ^ https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/POC%20Rep%20on%20Account%20in%20Sri%20Lanka.pdf p.65
  2. ^ https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/POC%20Rep%20on%20Account%20in%20Sri%20Lanka.pdf p.65
  3. ^ "AP Investigation: UN troops lured kids into Haiti sex ring". AP News. 2017-04-12. Retrieved 2024-02-23.